Happy Birthday Carnegie Hall

On this day (May 5) in 1891 the great Carnegie Hall opened in New York City. That first week included four performances with Tchaikovsky as conductor. Carnegie Hall is so famous it is included in a classic joke – A tourist stops a NYC police officer and asks, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” The police answers, “practice, practice, practice!”

When I was still in my late teens I got a chance to play in Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony. I was already in college, but they needed extra bass players, so I got hired to play as a “ringer” for this high school group. We played Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and the sound was glorious! Playing on the stage that has been used by every famous musician in the last 100 years was an experience I’ve never forgotten. The conductor of that performance is still one of my best friends, 34 years later. Reading about this anniversary made me think of the role a great concert hall has in the life of a community and the impending new performing arts center here in San Antonio, which opens in September 2013.

While the Majestic Theatre is a fabulously interesting building, it was built for film, not for live music. The arts in San Antonio have needed a more appropriate facility for many years. The pit at the Majestic isn’t big enough to house a full orchestra for opera or ballet and the acoustics at the Municipal Auditorium are not good enough for live music. So, the new performing arts center that will open in 2013 will have a transformative effect on all the arts groups in town. The Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation has hired world-class acousticians and architects to build the new center. Our new music director, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, has already had conversations with the acousticians and he is convinced that they are on the right track to build a world-class facility.

Carnegie Hall is located on 57th street and Seventh Avenue, just two blocks south of Central Park. When it was built, this neighborhood was not the center of cultural life in NYC. The fashionable set of the time thought it was located far too north. But, the city grew and now Carnegie Hall is considered in mid-town Manhattan. It was almost torn down, but a group led by violinist Isaac Stern convinced the city to save it and form not-for-profit corporation to run the three halls that are contained inside Carnegie. The main hall was renamed Isaac Stern Auditorium in his honor.

The list of world premieres that have taken place in Carnegie Hall include the Dvo?ák New World Symphony, Gershwin An American in Paris and Concerto in F, Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements and Ives Symphony No. 2, 3, and 4. The New York Philharmonic made Carnegie Hall its home from 1892 until it moved to Lincoln Center in 1962.

For 119 years Carnegie Hall has served as the icon for music in American. It represents the highest possible quality in the arts. It has inspired generations. Happy Birthday Carnegie Hall!